HOA Police

I have been a bit quiet on the forums lately because I've been hard at work on a new web series I am launching called HOA Police. If you are someone in this great country who has been spared the joy of living in a community with a Home Owner's Association, be glad! Here in Arizona, they can be quite evil at times.

Below is our pilot (which did well at the Pheonix Film Fest), but you can see more episodes and promos at our website http://www.hoapolice.com. We will be airing two episodes a week till the end of the year. I know there has been a lot of comparisons between this and Reno 911, which makes sense. What do you guys think? Is this something you could see catching on? Is it funny, is the quality OK?

I apologize if I shouldn't be bringing up a personal project here, but I have read all of your comments on other work and I respect all of your opinions. Thanks for your feedback guys, I appreciate it!

I like it! It's well shot and has some pretty good jokes. I laughed at the black lab dog poo joke, that's up my alley of funny. I watched a couple of the other episodes too. The jokes are definitely there. Maybe needs a little more conflict, or maybe even more delusion. Might be hard to do in 3 minute spurts, but that would be great if it got darker, and these guys acted more like Travis Bickle or something. They think they are heroes, but they are literally destroying the neighborhood. That's kind of the premise right now, I understand, maybe push it even further. I like the episode where you were attacking the recycling bin, but that could have been pushed even further. Maybe take the recycling bin out to the desert, make it dig it's own grave before you kill it, stuff like that. I dig completely nonsensical humor like that in the web videos I watch, but if that's not what you are going for, then I understand. I liked it, though. Nice job!

Luckily I've never lived in an HOA. I loved the X-files episode where Mulder and Scully go under cover as a married couple in an HOA neighborhood. And a monster will kill you if you don't follow the rules.

Any ways, I watched the episode with the graffiti / poo and thought it was funny. I bet you had a lot of fun making these.

I would say that the timing of the jokes could be a little tighter, you're holding the shots and the delivery to anticipate a laugh, and that's a few beats too long - Hit the punchline and MOVE, don't wait for the joke to sink in - and don't be afraid to do some jump-cutting between alternate takes of the bit, as long as the angles are sufficiently different.

The lighting seems a little flat in places.

The kids are a little too self-aware.

As to the material, When I think about this subject as a joke, I think about something like the TSA, where they are totally locked into their rules, no matter how hypocritical or outright nonsensical they are. Your agents should reflect the HOA equivalent of that: that the HOA has one version of what "white" paint is, and it's not beige, ecru, bone, or whatever. Whip out the Pantone swatches on the "crime scene". Taste that pool water and run a PH test on it with all the air of a CSI agent. Screw up someone's engagement party by towing all the guest's cars, or getting the tow truck to yank a classic antique car in the driveway that just arrived from the Barrett Jackson show. Pick on a semi-senile WW-II vet over his patriotism regarding putting up a flag in the front of his house, that's based on real HOA capers. Get into a fight with leaf-blower guys and your men keep getting blown backwards every time they try to advance to make a collar. Have them show up to a Monthly meeting of the HOA to make their report, and watch them aggrandize the importance of things they did. Cover the board's reactions. The board should closely resemble the Board from the underground city of Topeka from "A Boy And His Dog".